I made this typical pasta sauce made with a can of tomatoe puree, can of crushed tomatoes, 4 tablespoons of tomatoe paste, onions, red wine, water and other typical ingredients.

After some sausages were cooked and taking out of the pan, the onion was cut up and carmelized before adding anything else. I also put a tablespoon of sugar in it.

I love it, but my husband says wayyy too sweet. He also claims that you don't want to cut the onion and to just drop it in the sauce whole after everything is put together as it should be in there for flavor only.

Anyways, is carmalizing the onions not a good thing? Or did that ONE tablespoon of sugar make it so sweet?

I think it's important to cut the onions so the flavor spreads out much more. And as for the sweet part, try just throwing the chopped onions into the sauce without caramelizing it. And maybe skip out on the sugar.

i think you added too much paste which can be sweet, as well as the sugar. my guess is you needed to add water because of so much paste.

next time, add more puree or crushed tomatoes, cook them down a bit, skip the sugar but definitely carmelize the onions for their mild sweetness, add the other ingredients (wine, meat, etc.)and only add a little paste at the end to thicken it up.

hth.

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I think it's important to cut the onions so the flavor spreads out much more. And as for the sweet part, try just throwing the chopped onions into the sauce without caramelizing it. And maybe skip out on the sugar.

Actually, I find that onion that hasn't been fried before it is cooked is usually sweeter.

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I would start by never adding sugar to a tomato sauce. If you want to counteract any acidity, add a couple of tablespoons of paste.

I always start a sauce by sauteing the onions and garlic in olive oil. Then the paste goes in and gets cooked. Only then do I add canned whole tomatoes and break them up with the wood spatula I've been using.

If your sauce is too acidic, add the tiniest pinch of baking soda to neutralize the acidity. IMHO, it's better to eliminate the offensive acidity rather than trying to mask it with sugar.

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